Environmental Justice

Environmental Justice Small Grants Program

Overview

Since its inception in 1994, the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program has awarded more than $24 million in funding to over 1400 community-based organizations, and local and tribal organizations working with communities facing environmental justice issues.

The Environmental Justice Small Grants Program supports and empowers communities working on solutions to local environmental and public health issues. The program is designed to help communities understand and address exposure to multiple environmental harms and risks. Environmental Justice Small Grants fund projects up to $30,000, depending on the availability of funds in a given year. All projects are associated with at least one qualified environmental statute.

Requests for Applications

Deadline Extension! The submission deadline for the 2019 EJ Small Grants solicitation is now March 8, 2019. An updated version of the RFP is now available on this webpage. Please join any of the upcoming pre-application assistance calls for more information about the changes. See additional details below.

The Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) program awards grants that support community-driven projects designed to engage, educate, and empower communities to better understand local environmental and public health issues and develop strategies for addressing those issues, building consensus in the community, and setting community priorities. The EJSG program will award approximately $1.5 million nationwide for this competitive opportunity. EPA anticipates awarding approximately 50 grants (5 per EPA region) of up to $30,000 each. These grants are for one-year projects. Given projected increases in extreme weather events and the vulnerability of underserved populations, this opportunity will emphasize projects that address emergency preparedness and increase resiliency, as well as projects that include the needs of US military veterans and homeless populations.

Potential applicants are invited to participate in conference calls with EPA to address questions about the EJSG Program and this solicitation. Interested persons may access the pre-application assistance calls by dialing 866-299-3188 and entering the code 202-564-6349# when prompted. The following are the conference call dates and times:

Requests for Applications

See our Frequently Asked Questions page for answers to common questions about this opportunity. This page will be updated throughout the open solicitation period with additional questions and answers.

In accordance with EPA's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy (EPA Order 5700.5A1), EPA staff will not meet with individual applicants to discuss draft applications, provide informal comments on draft applications, or provide advice to applicants on how to respond to ranking criteria.

Applicants are responsible for the contents of their applications. However, consistent with the provisions in the announcement, EPA will respond to questions from individual applicants regarding threshold eligibility criteria, administrative issues related to the submission of the proposal, and requests for clarification about the announcement.